1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a portable terminal and housings for same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sliding type portable terminal, in which a pair of housings are slidably engaged face-to-face and a keypad having a QWERTY key layout to facilitate convenient use.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a ‘portable terminal’ refers to a handheld device with which a user can enjoy a variety of functions including communications, scheduling, multimedia playing, games and an electronic dictionary, and having functionality while being mobile. The legacy mobile communication terminal, which provided simple voice call services at its early stage, has increasingly developed to include various functions including the above-mentioned scheduling, multimedia playing and games, and recently the ability to support real-time services such as wireless Internet, video file transfer and Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), and transmission/reception of high-capacity information files.
Owing to the development of such high-end technologies, and the ongoing miniaturization of semiconductors, the functions of various types of portable terminals and services provided through them may be all included by only a single mobile communication terminal. That is, in addition to the voice call and multimedia services provided from the mobile communication service providers, a user may access the Internet with his mobile communication terminal without having to access a mobile communication service network in the area where the wireless Internet is available. In this communication environment, the user can download his desired contents over the Internet.
An input device such as, for example, a QWERTY keypad is required to manipulate a scheduler and to send and receive E-mails and the like over the wireless Internet. Although inputting a variety of characters is possible even with a keypad of a common mobile phone, use of the QWERTY keypad makes it possible to write and send urgent messages or lengthy E-mails more rapidly and accurately as opposed to have to make multiple presses of a single key on a typical numeric phone pad to select the desired letter of the alphabet.
However, considering a distance between a mouthpiece and an earpiece on the mobile communication terminal, a display device and a keypad are commonly disposed lengthwise, making it difficult to ensure an efficient input device such as the QWERTY keypad. That is, when actually manipulating the terminal, the user manipulates the keypad and the like holding the terminal in a vertical direction, which makes it difficult to dispose the QWERTY keypad because of the narrow horizontal width of the terminal. A number of PDAs, for example, have such a keypad and the keys are extremely narrow in area as compared with an adult's finger tip.
As an alternative, a new terminal has emerged in which a display device with a touch screen is installed on the front side to enable convenient use of multimedia features and to realize a QWERTY keypad on the touch screen when the user writes lengthy E-mails or the like holding the terminal in a horizontal direction, facilitating convenient manipulation. Such a touch screen-based terminal makes it easy to realize a variety of input devices, including the QWERTY keypad, on the display device. As a typical QWERTY keyboard conventionally is a rectangle with two longer sides in the horizontal direction, users often find such a design as being more ergonomically appealing to them.
In addition, a new sliding type portable terminal has been launched, in which a keypad is installed on a first housing formed long in a vertical direction and may be opened/closed by sliding a second housing in a horizontal direction with respect to the first housing, enabling a QWERTY key layout. Thus, the user can manipulate the keypad holding the terminal in a horizontal direction, with the keypad opened.
However, the manufacture of a terminal with a keypad slidable in a horizontal direction has many difficulties in securing a wiring structure of a flexible printed circuit board connecting circuit devices in the first and second housings.
That is, in order to secure a sufficient length considering the sliding distance of the second housing, the flexible printed circuit board wired between the first and second housings is wired in a curved manner on the first and second housings, increasing its possible damage due to interference or the like caused by the sliding of the second housing.
Also, in order for the second housing to secure a sufficient space for the QWERTY key layout when sliding in a horizontal direction, it is difficult to secure a space to cover up the flexible printed circuit board between the first and second housings. Because of this, when the second housing slides in a horizontal direction, the flexible printed circuit board can be exposed to the outside elements, increasing the possibility of damage and spoiling appearance of the terminal.